Immersion Blender - Where have you been all my life?

So I have been looking at a few toys quite a bit lately. Kind of chewing on the idea of them like a dog with a bone. One of them is a Dutch Oven. I don't own one and I want to. But do I buy a cast iron one? Do I buy one from Rachel Ray? Tough decisions and a lot of time spent looking at them in stores and on-line. The other one is an immersion blender. I have wanted one for awhile, but recently got really obsessed with the idea of one. So I finally leaped into the abyss and ordered one on Amazon that was in my price range (Under $30.00 US and free shipping), had pretty good ratings, and was easy to clean. This is a picture of my new immersion blender and since I ripped off the picture from Amazon - here is a link to look at it on Amazon as well. 

I got my blender yesterday and we ran to the store a few hours later to get the makings for soup. My first soup is a Butternut Squash Soup recipe that I got off Weightwatchers.com. A simple soup with just a few ingredients: Squash, Vegetable broth, an apple and an onion. The recipe called for a Vidalia onion - which I couldn't find at my local store, so I just chucked a yellow onion in there. It was really easy - although it took longer to cook than the recipe suggested as I would not crank the heat up to high until I got a good boil on. Bad for the stock pot! So I had to wait a good half an hour to get a boil at medium heat. Then I had to let it boil until the onions were translucent. Then I got to play with my new toy!

I hauled the pot over to an outlet (placing a pad on the counter for the pot to sit on) and placed the immersion blender into the pot almost touching the bottom of the pot. There is a nice guard on this model so I was able to rest it on the bottom of the pot without hurting anything. Oh was it fun! I had to use both hands to control the blender and it just went to town on the soup! Soon all those large chunks were blended into a smooth as silk soup. YAY!

I poured myself a bowl and had to taste it immediately. Good but it needed a little something. The recipe said to garnish it with a little nutmeg, but I didn't have any on hand so I ended up adding a dash of cinnamon on top and then threw in a small handful of oyster crackers. Perfect! I think a side of homemade Rosemary bread - thick crust and full of butter - would be the perfect side to this. But since I am making this to sublimate my Weight watchers diet, that is out for now. When I get into maintenance mode I will so make some crusty bread to go with this recipe! I am thinking about using it as a low cal sauce to top some ravioli though. I think that could be very tasty!

I ended up with 12 double servings (One Points + per bowl!) and froze all but two. Now when I am craving a snack I can grab a bowl of homemade soup from the freezer and have a healthy snack. Go me!

Now I am off to the store. I saw a wonderful recipe for Vegetable soup......

And one more thing....

I mentioned yesterday all the yarn goodies we purchased at the UMA Fall Fiber festival, but I neglected to mention one other little purchase that has been kind of fun. We picked up two felted balls for our cat Izzi. Well guess who keeps running off with them?

Yup. Miss Emma has claimed the cat toys for herself. The cat finds them interesting as well, but the dog has pretty much laid claim to them. Funny. Maybe I will have to bring a new cardboard box home for the cat. She loves it when there is a new box she can bite and jump into. Always cracks me up!

Izzi

Izzi has been doing pretty good. I took her in for her annual shots this spring and she has lost a little weight - which is good. She needs to be thin for her joints. Her first knee surgery a year ago was successful and she does not seem to be in pain. She runs around like a crazy girl at times - it's good to see her being a cat. :) We expect she will need the second knee surgery someday, but hopefully if she drops weight it will be further away. She is on Cosequin for joints. I actually started taking joint medicine at the same time. I figure if the vet thinks it will help the cat then I should take it too. I have had knee problems since I was a teenager. (and yes - I need to drop weight too - Am working on it!)

We found these little cat balls at Petco and the cat just LOVES them! Bonus is that Emma (our pup) will chew on them but doesn't actually destroy them. So it works out really well. We will throw the balls and the cat will run at them and try and catch them and tackle them. It's awesome and it's good exercise for her. We loved them so much we got a pack for Tom's mom's cat too. I recommend them balls: http://www.petco.com/product/5826/PETCO-Rainbow-Ball-Cat-Toys.aspx?CoreCat=certona-_-ProductListTopRated_Cat_1-_-PETCO%20Rainbow%20Ball%20Cat%20Toys-5826 and I have only found this style at Petco. (I checked Petsmart AND Chuck & Don's and Wal Mart and Target..... and this is the only place I have found them.